Why India Prayed for Sanjay

This was in respose to Vir Sanghvi's Column counterpoint in HT dated 3-12-06

This is a movie crazy nation. A nation where movie stars are worshipped, literally. So what is the big deal about India praying for Sanjay Dutt ?


The stated position on "celebrity crimes" varies with where the celebrity status is derived from. So the differences in treatment to accused in Jessica Lal and Nitish Katara case is rather obvious. The celebrity status of the convicted in the latter cases is a derivative of crime and hence the public hatred. There is only one face to the accused in these cases - that of rich influential offenders who can manipulate the system. The celebrity status of Sanjay Dutt on the other hand is derived as a function of the show business he operates in - where every individual is considered a demigod. He is a man of many faces - from Brave-heart to Robin-hood bollywood ishtyle. So really what parallels are we trying to draw here is incomprehensible to my mind ? May be we are so blinded and naïve in our vision that we see this as just another role of the actor and fail to draw lines between the real and the reel lives.


All this just goes to prove a disturbing point that media is becoming the center of social systems defining public opinion and passing its own judgment - trial by media as they say it is preceding it all. I do not know any of the accused in any of the crimes personally, so to comment on the merits of the case is perhaps impossible . But I wonder if it is much ado about nothing at least in the Sanjay Dutt case. He was one of the many accused in the Mumbai blasts case. Justice has finally been done after the long wait. My interest was limited to that and I guess that would be true for many, unless the message that it's a big deal keeps getting hammered all the time across different media - be it newspapers or television and I start believing it.


Bombay polices' vindictiveness , Sanjay's defense strategy and the case of political capital being created - are they really issues of common man, is anybody's guess. But may be there are takers in media for it for they know the man.


The sad thing is that after all this said and done, we are still discussing it. and the "celebrity status" attached to it. I guess that's the reason why rightly the latest issue of India today offers some insights into gaining the celebrity status. After all it helps you get prayers from the country of a billion - any takers for that? I am sure there are many takers. Why India prayed for Sanjay? Or did it really?